Orth'ris, fall away!'
He released the little Londoner, took back his pipe, filled it, and
his eyes twinkled. He has the most eloquent eyes of any one that I
know.
'Did I iver tell you,' he began, 'that I was wanst the divil av a man?'
'You did,' said Learoyd with a childish gravity that made Ortheris
yell with laughter, for Mulvaney was always impressing upon us his
great merits in the old days.
'Did I iver tell you,' Mulvaney continued calmly, 'that I was
wanst more av a divil than I am now?'
'Mer--ria! You don't mean it?' said Ortheris.
'Whin I was Corp'ril--I was rejuced aftherwards--but, as I say, _whin_
I was Corp'ril, I was a divil of a man.'
He was silent for nearly a minute, while his mind rummaged among old
memories and his eye glowed. He bit upon the pipe-stem and charged
into his tale.
'Eyah! They was great times. I'm ould now; me hide's wore off in
patches; sinthrygo has disconceited me, an' I'm a married man tu. But
I've had my day--I've had my day, an' nothin' can take away the taste
av that! Oh my time past, whin I put me fut through ivry livin' wan
av the Tin Commandmints between Revelly and Lights Out, blew the froth
off a pewter, wiped me moustache wid the back av me hand, an' slept
on ut all as quiet as a little child! But ut's over--ut's over, an'
'twill niver come back to me; not though I prayed for a week av Sundays.
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